Hearing aids are used to assist a person who has impaired hearing or does not perceive sound properly. Technological advances in hearing aids have reduced their size. Accordingly, many components of the hearing aid are very small making the manipulation and positioning of components within an ear canal difficult.
Generally, there are two types of behind-the-ear hearing aids. Those with receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) (also sometimes called receiver-in-the-canal (RIC)), and those with the receiver-in-the-aid (RITA). Both the RITE and certain RITA hearing aids require a small ear canal component be positioned in the ear canal of the user. The ear canal component can include a sound receiver, a tip (e.g. occluding ear dome, non-occluding ear dome, other suitable component) portions of a wire, portions of an acoustical mini sound tube, and/or other hearing air components that are positioned in the ear canal. In the example of a RITE hearing aid, the receiver and/or the tip are positioned in the ear canal and a thin wire connects the receiver and/or the tip to the main body of the hearing aid. In the example of a RITA hearing aid, a tip (and generally a portion of the acoustical mini sound tube) is positioned in the ear canal, and the tip is connected to the main body of the hearing aid by the acoustical mini sound tube. In this case, the receiver is located in the main body of the hearing aid. Certain examples of hearing aids or ear canal components include a retention tail that maintains the ear canal component in the correct position in the ear canal and/or increases the stability of the ear canal component in the ear canal. Maintaining the ear canal component in position in the ear canal is important as movement of the ear canal (due to the user talking, chewing, leaning over, turning of the head, and/or walking) can cause the ear canal to change shape, and therefore, result in slippage of the ear canal component which may change the performance of the hearing aid.
Regardless of whether a RITE or RITA hearing aid is utilized by a user, it is essential that ear canal component be property inserted and positioned in the ear canal. The ear canal component must be seated correctly to ensure that the hearing aid user is receiving the prescribed amplification and the hearing aid is secure.
Presently, it can be very difficult for hearing aid users to insert, control, position, and seat the ear canal component of a hearing aid sufficiently deep into the ear canal for a variety of reasons. Attempts have been made to make the process of positioning the ear canal component using a variety of devices including tweezers, holding rods, and insertion tools. However, hearing aid users intuitively use their fingertips to push the ear canal component into place in the ear canal. The use of a fingernail also can further assist the user when pushing the ear canal component into place in the ear canal. Often times however, the use of a fingertip and/or fingernail to position the ear canal component can result in user frustration, inability to manipulate the ear canal component, and/or too much effort by the user due to the lack of an adequate surface area and accommodations for a fingertip and/or fingernail to manipulate and position the ear canal component.
Furthermore, the small size of the ear canal component makes it very difficult for the user to manipulate and control the orientation and position of the hearing aid component as the user attempts to direct the ear canal component through the angled and sloped pathways of the ear canal. For instance, a user may have several angles, bends, or curves in the ear canal. Furthermore still, dexterity or mobility limitations of older hearing aid users make the ability to manipulate and position the ear canal component even more difficult and frustrating.
The ear canal component also lacks adequate surface area for a fingertip to manipulate the movement of the ear canal component. For instance, fingertip may slide past and alongside the ear canal component making manipulation of the ear canal component nearly impossible.
Further, it should be noted that many components of the hearing aid, such as the ear canal components, the connector wire, and acoustical mini sound tube, are often very delicate. Substantial force on any component may cause damage, malfunction, and/or destruction of the hearing aid. Often times, a twisting motion is used by a user to attempt to achieve proper positioning, but this twisting motion can cause substantial damage to the hearing aid component.
The resulting consequences of the problems described above for hearing aid users include loosely fitting hearing aids which may fall out and become lost, inadequate amplification which does not meet the prescribed needs of the hearing aid user, unwanted acoustical feedback, user frustration, damage to the hearing aid, diminished reputation for the hearing aid manufacturer, and/or reduced perception of the viability of hearing aids by users.
Example prior attempts at solving the problems discussed above have been disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2009/0285428 and 2009/0082801, both incorporated herein by reference. However, both disclosures have their own problems. It is also conceivable that these handheld tools may cause injury to the user if improperly inserted into the ear canal. For instance, inserting a tool too deeply into the ear canal may rupture to the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and/or injure the surface of the ear canal. Also, the user may lose the handheld tool.